Just finished my build; 140mm Fox 36, 1×12 NX, SLX brakes with 203f/180r and some big rubber, 2.6F & 2.3R.
Had a little ride yesterday- it’s a pretty interesting balance and suitably impressed at the moment.
I’ve got BPW booked in on this for the end of the month. Would usually take the FS, but this could make it fun & different.

I’ve got a set of 130mm Rebas and XC tyres. Just need an XC wheelset and then I have a lighter weight build for summer.

Done! Thanks Rank. Just placing my order now. Fast red because I’m not quick enough for pink.

Damn! Just went to buy one and the price has gone up again :(

I’ve got an medium orange Scandal with a Reba RL 130mm boost plus headset going cheap if that’s of any interest?

Cheers again for the kind comments.

My creative curiosity wonders did you go with someone to setup the ride by shots or did you ride ahead, set up and re ride and what did you use to film (phone, action cam etc).

All filmed on an iphone 13 by myself. As you say, just stand it up and cycle past then rinse and repeat. I used Inshot to edit it on my phone after the ride. Took about an hour.

choice of words in the title made me think this video should be on a “hub” site.

I was trying to explain to my wife what I was actually going out to do/film.. whilst she stared at me with a raised eyebrow :D

Subscribed! I like your stuff @rocketdog
I see you’ve still got the Swift. That’s got to be some years old now!
What do you use to film? The sound & quality is great.

Cheers- took about an hour post ride on my phone to edit. Not too bad.

Does the growler have a blow off valves to account for the shaking?

It doesn’t! Thankfully Good Old Boy is a pretty flat ale. It was pretty fresh out so I guess that helped.
No issues pouring my first pint post ride.

No help at all, but I love the look of these. Symmetrical without any garish graphics.
Modular so you can change axles and also come in 165mm.

https://uniteco.bike/product-category/drivetrain/crankset/

Cheers for the kind comments. Wasn’t expecting anyone to really watch it. Was just an idea I couldn’t shake. Recommend anyone to do it. I found it therapeutic.

Yup, Blackburn Outpost. Great piece of kit at a reasonable price.

Will take any 64oz Growler. This one’s the Renegade branded one. Not a bad price given it includes a fill up.

Cheers!

Out of interest, what are the bars you’re running?

Stooge Junker 85mm rise. They’re actually 820mm width :D . Chunky and a little short on space for controls/accessories but lovely shape.

Cheers all!

It seems they poured you the wrong beer. Maharaja IPA is the one on the left.

Love Maharaja, but Mr Chubbs for me when riding :D

What’s the sat nav also about my tech level.

Beeline Velo 2. Great little unit; https://global.beeline.co/pages/beeline-cycling

I ride those trails near Hampstead Norreys, good to see you tackle the foot bridge over the stream as well.

Cheers! A little sketchy with 800mm bars.

Not helpful, but had this issue with a Cotic RocketMax.. one of the droplink bolts disappeared on a local loop.
I had to order two replacement bolts.. one with Loctite & the other without (bar a tiniest dab on the top edge)! Amazing the inconsistency you can get even with a hand picked cottage industry brand.

What local trails are those? Slanting Hill? Look like fun!

I’ve done a few hundred miles with mine now.

I did a review- YT link.

Overall I quite like it!

Pros: Easy to use, good value, looks smart, mounts securely and gives you basic metrics

Cons: Smartphone dependant, no crash protection, no elevation and odd route planning at time.

We fixed for 10yrs in April this year for just below 2%. We paid a few grand to get out early in hopes it would work out long term from what we were reading in the news.

What astounded me was that the mortgage broker was doing her absolute best to stop us from going early.
We were due to renew from the end of December and she was convinced that it would only go up by .1-3% come renewal time ‘because it’s stayed the same for the last 5 years’.
We played it safe and swallowed the pill thankfully. She even followed up during the cooling off period to see if we’d changed our minds. For a few months after we worried we’d done the wrong thing whilst paying off the fees.

I know a few people that have moved and over stretched and taken a 2-5 year tracker in the last year. I’m worried for them! Not entirely sure where it’ll end.

One of the few benefits of a new build is that the insulation is pretty amazing.
We’re South facing, so the house gets warm year round.
Dropped to 5’C last night, but our thermometer still said 18.3’C indoors at about 11pm! Heating has been off since April.
The only heat we get is from the kitchen (mainly slow cooker) and hot water tank in the airing cupboard which we dropped to 45’C too. We’re very comfortable, so still leaving the heating off.

Really feel for people in older houses, especially if you’re up North!

Neither seller was willing to ship the item.

My default is to get a Shiply quote now for bikes I’m interested in that are further away where a seller won’t post. The seller doesn’t need to dismantle and they’ll collect from their door with a flexible pick-up/drop-off time. The seller doesn’t have an excuse then!
I’ve had a great experience every time. Last bike cost me £54 from Manchester to Reading within 2 days.

Wow.. all that trials stuff on a chunky coil enduro bike.
That’s Chris Akrigg level stuff

You’ve got a few hours before i head off 🙂

Wrong size sadly ;)

I’m after a FS bike, but prices seem very strong.
Seems very little shifting on price despite being on the market for months.
Some are even more than the sale price of a brand new and in stock bike.. lots of Whytes like this.
I got the asking price for the Stooge & £50 less thank asking on the Bird.

Lovely warm bimble yesterday. Not too muddy yet either.

Stooge Ti Dirtbomb with Ti Truss fork

29er+ carbon wheels with 3.25″ Crux tyres

Sram GX AXS with EEwing cranks

Reverb AXS with Brooks Cambium saddle

Hope E4 Tech 4 brakes with 203mm rotors

Kingdom Ti stem

Hope headset

Whisky Milhouse bars with Ergon grips

Bentley Components top cap

Stooge do a good head tube badge.

Great PSA! Bought some for the spares box.

I’ve got a range of everything XO 1×12 > Single speed.
I added 1×10 Deore M4/5100 to a single speed bike as a cheap drivetrain, and I’m mega impressed!
Shifts perfectly and the 11-42t gives a pretty good range and the jumps aren’t too bad. No complaints other than the heavy cassette. I eventually added a Zee shifter for £10 so that I could get rid of the shift window and have a nicer leaver feel. I’ll definitely use Deore in the future.

Plus yes I had a Kingdom frame once that suffered dreaded piss poor bb threads.

I’ve had 2 Kingdom frames and suffered BB thread issues with both. I didn’t realize this was a common thing! I assume it was somehow my fault. Both frames and bike boxes were also filled with sand from the shot blast finish. Paid a very good price for both though.

Lovely riding bikes though and never had any long term issues. Enjoyed putting the miles in.

My neighbor (65+yr old lady) has bought a 650b+ version to replace a nice carbon Cervelo.
It’s pretty flat around here, but she said her knee was giving her pain and general age, so ebike assistance means she can still go on big rides. She only rides solo too.

I initially wanted a Hooligan, but they are so hard to find and the premium is crazy now!

The Velo Orange Neutrino looks perfect, but the geometry is decidedly ‘old school’- I;d probably go for a Marino custom build to get it a bit slacker and longer.

uncomfortable ride on anything but smooth tarmac, you’ll have to book ahead if you want to take it on a train and unfinished welding under the BB…

Your review has convinced me never to buy one, thankyou…

Also Who is “Brendan Kerr”?

Pretty much! It’s good fun though. It’s like a BMX with gears, so it’s pretty playful. I did a 10 mile ride and that was starting to become a chore on the mixed riding I did. It would be perfect for town riding though.

Brendan/Bernard, who cares.. he’s one of those sick riders with bags of skills that I don’t have.

Well.. I just tallied up all my bikes since 2007.. 59 bikes. I think I’ve forgotten some. There’s also been a few models that I’ve bought a few different times. I still own 2 and about to purchase #60.

1 . Kona Cowan
2 . Cove Sanchez
3 . Mongoose BMX
4 . Charge Blender (#1)
5 . Charge Duster
6 . Marin North Trail
7 . Revell 300
8 . Trek 5500
9 . Commencal Meta 4x
10 . Charge Blender Ti
11 . Charge Iron
12 . Giant Trance 2 (#1)
13 . On-one 456 SS
14 . Charge Blender (#2)
15 . Specialized Enduro
16 . GT Sanction 10
17 . Giant Trance 3 (#2)
18 . Kona Unit
19 . Descendence Vox (custom built frame)
20 . Chumba HX2 (#1)
21 . Charge Blender (#3)
22 . Kingdom Foia V2
23 . Canfield Yelli Screamy
24 . DMR Trailstar
25 . GT Moto
26 . Kona Explosif 650b
27 . Rocky Mounain Oxygen
28 . On-One Fatty
29 . Kingdom Brigante
30 . Stooge mk1
31 . Orange Five 650b
32 . Diamondback Mojito
33 . Whyte T129 SCR Works (#1)
34 . Chumba HX2 (#2)
35 . Zelous Division Mk2
36 . Trek Superfly 9
37 . Giant BSO Commuter
38 . Stooge Mk2
39 . Whyte T129 SCR S (#2)
40 . Pinnacle Arkos 3
41 . Whyte T130 RS (#1)
42 . Ragley Marley
43 . Whyte 529
44 . Whyte T129 S (#3)
45 . Cotic Roadrat (#1)
46 . Cotic SolarisMax LS
47 . Stooge Mk4
48 . Whyte S150 C RS
49 . Whyte S150 S
50 . Cotic RocketMax
51 . Whyte T130 RS (#2)
52 . Current: On-One Scandal
53 . Raleigh BSO commuter
54 . Bird Aeris9 Al
55 . Cotic Roadrat (#2)
56 . Whyte Portobello V3
57 . Hoffman BMX
58 . Mafia BMX
59 . Current: Stooge Dirtbomb
60 . Incoming: Whyte S120 RS

This will be an awesome build!

Question I can’t seem to find anyone else asking.. can you ‘hack’ or set the system to run 10spd or 11spd instead of 12spd?

I’ve got some nice wheels that I can’t get XD or Microspline freehub body for and I have lots of new 11spd cassettes. I’m happy with the gear range they offer anyway.

Whyte came back incredibly quickly and have popped a replacement in the post for me FOC!
Great customer service again from Whyte

That’s impressive! What mode was the Levo in for the pedal up?
I struggle to get 12 in on a full days uplift when things were normal.
Glad you had a good time. I always think it’s worth a visit.

I did the tape myself. 3 hours, a scalpel and lots of patience. Not sure I’d cut it myself again. I see invisiframe now have a kit for this bike. I enjoyed putting it on it was just the shaping that was hard work. Materials was about £25 too.

I used Slik graphics- quality is normally spot on but the galaxy pattern is a little pixelated in this case.

Only cycled round the corner for photos but amazing how long it is and how short the backend is. Feels fun!

Off to a trail centre at the weekend and FOD the following weekend so should give me a good flavour for it.

Size is M/L- I’m 173cm/5’9” and the saddle has gone up a few CM. I’ve got short legs and long torso.

Love that build! Congrats. I think orange decals will finish it off!

I was there for the uplift the other day. Running slower due to reduced capacity, but they are doing a really good job.
The trails seem to be running well but some more of it’s really blown out. Doesn’t look like any trail maintenance has been done recently, so as above- watch out on the berms. Just a little more natural.
I had an ace time though. Enjoy!

..and it’s here

Getting rather exciting reading everything above! Thanks again all.
Certainly interested in Dundee/Angus now. Sound like it could cover the bases. Given the city probably won’t be for work, maybe we don’t need to be that close to Edinburgh if other towns/cities have it all.
The plan now is to research more from above and then book a couple weeks holiday in the various areas to narrow it down a little. Plus many hours on Rightmove house hunting. We’re not in a huge rush, but thinking within the next 1/2 > 1 1/2yrs.

Thanks- I knew the STW hive would have lots of experience and opinions. Did not disappoint! We’ve lived all over the UK and visited Scotland a few times. Always felt special.
I’ll do some research on all of the above. Thanks!

Lots of good stuff to think about, thanks again! Everything’s telling me this is a good idea.

When I say Reading.. I mean a hamlet 20 mins away (with West Berks Brewery in sight), so used to having no village shop let alone anything else.

We’re about 1 1/2hrs away from the sea, so it would be nice to move by the sea or within 35mins I guess. Just a beach to relax and walk.. possibly do a bit of kayaking or SUP.

Feels like the right time to move somewhere more outdoor focused and less hectic than the South with raising our baby.